I tried to get something of that old-scifi-book-covers feeling here. First a I did a desert crash, but then I went for cold-alone-in-space thing. The look and feel of traditional approach with all its mistakes and accidents. Thats not to say that I tried to mimic it, but simply stating my general direction towards more dirty and loose rather clean and a bit steril modern day illustration. Comments on approach and suggestions are very welcome

Old-scifi-book-cover style images seem almost a forgotten style in the field of scifi art nowadays. I think you've nailed the look and the storytelling in the image perfectly.

I had a bunch of ideas going through my head when I saw the picture, but please consider these only as suggestions since they do not necessary make the image better.
- Where's the skull, I want a skull inside the helmet.
-If I don't get a skull, then how about the hand of the dead pilot extending from the edge of the screen and lying just inches away or next to the helmet.
- markings on the craft, stickers, warning signs, insignias etc. other detailing.
- Some colour to the space bg? I'm not saying much, maybe just a little dash of cosmic awesomeness to light it up a bit. Granted though, the way you have it now just underliness the emptiness of space. I dig that too.

-I didn't put a scull because I think there's too much of those lately in the illustration world. Illustration has become very aggressive and full of realistic depictions. I'm the less-is-more kind of guy in that regard. Not everything needs to be shown in order to get the right result.
- Same thing as above. Illustration has turned to violence too much.
- I thought about markings a lot but they would be distracting since there's a lot of details on the ship as it is.
- Same thing as above, distraction from the helmet. But that's not a bad Idea. I might try that a bit although I was going for a more simple black comic book style.

-I didn't put a scull because I think there's too much of those lately in the illustration world. Illustration has become very aggressive and full of realistic depictions. I'm the less-is-more kind of guy in that regard. Not everything needs to be shown in order to get the right result.
- Same thing as above. Illustration has turned to violence too much.

Boink! you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say this. I am quite on the same page with you on this, though for me the skull would have been more as an accident/tragedy for the pilot, rather than a ie. a war situation in space... I guess. :-/

But yeah, I'm fed up with seeing guns, explosions etc everywhere, especially in anything sci-fi related. Granted I do that myself every now and then, but I try to steer to different pastures to create backstory & tension when painting scifi images.

Let me know how adding color to the space works, if you end up trying it. A barely noticeable blue hue might be a nice contrast to the the warmish color of the hull. *shrug*

-I didn't put a scull because I think there's too much of those lately in the illustration world. Illustration has become very aggressive and full of realistic depictions. I'm the less-is-more kind of guy in that regard. Not everything needs to be shown in order to get the right result.
- Same thing as above. Illustration has turned to violence too much.

Boink! you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say this. I am quite on the same page with you on this, though for me the skull would have been more as an accident/tragedy for the pilot, rather than a ie. a war situation in space... I guess. :-/

But yeah, I'm fed up with seeing guns, explosions etc everywhere, especially in anything sci-fi related. Granted I do that myself every now and then, but I try to steer to different pastures to create backstory & tension when painting scifi images.

My first impression was the pilot was extracted through the visor. Agreed,
not everything needs to be explicit.

Glad to see this discussion. We've touched on the same issue (elsewhere).
A gun, for example, seems to be an easy way (easiest?) to focus
meaning/attention. Take away the flashy stuff and suddenly it's a social
story.